Monday, June 14, 2010
Finals, Packing, and Sea
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Finally, Yankee Stadium at Last
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
A Busy Month
The week following my last post was spent in eager anticipation for my weekend, but I'll get to that in a second. Baseball during the week was a little bittersweet as we took our game on Tuesday against Baruch, winning 13-6, but had quite a bit of difficulty against the College of Staten Island, losing 15-3. Also that week was our first test in Intro to Marine Engineering. Up until that test, I was completely lost and am still almost totally lost but I'm still banking on figuring it all out before the final. Somehow, I managed to get a semi-respectable grade which ended up being among the top in the class, but I'm still puzzled as to how that happened. Finally, the week ended and I was able to leave on my long weekend earned by participating in a blood drive. My friend's parents graciously allowed me to stay with them Friday and Saturday night as I got away for the weekend so I could go see my favorite band, August Burns Red, play in the Nokia Theater just off Times Square. Even though it was a relatively small venue, it was still a lot of fun to see them rock the house, especially in NYC. Though the tickets were a little expensive, it was still well worth it.
Wednesday of the next week marked the first time I was allowed to travel with the baseball team. We took a coach bus to Hackettstown, NJ to take on Centenary College and our former head coach. Unfortunately, we could not overcome an early 8-0 deficit, losing 10-7. That weekend we played Juniata College, getting swept at home, losing a heartbreaker on Sunday 14-12.
The week of the 18th had two weekday games, both away, which I traveled to as well. The first was against SUNY Old Westbury, a short drive away. That game did not start well and stayed that way. The hitting was a little lacking throughout. The next day, against SUNY Maritime, one of our rivals, was a different story. We came out in the top of the first and put up 4 runs, only to give up 5 in the bottom of the inning. We put up several more, as did they, but we were able to hang on for the 13-11 win, our first since playing Baruch two weeks earlier. It felt so good to finally get another win, especially against Maritime.
The weekend games against SUNY Purchase were rained out, which saved us most of a Sunday. Today's game against St. Joseph's College of Long Island was another bright spot in our otherwise dismal season. We gave up 2 runs in the first, but were able to quickly put up 4 to get a lead. They eventually tied it up, though we broke the tie and held on to earn the 8-5 win. This, I believe, is the first time we've had a winning "streak" as all our previous wins had been isolated. Hopefully we can finish up the season on a high note against Susquehanna University.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Recognition Day and a Lot of Baseball
It’s been a little while since my last post, and a lot has happened since. When I left off, I had just finished moving into my new room and was adjusting to new roommates and a much nicer furniture setup.
The Thursday after returning, the USMMA baseball team held its home opener against SUNY Maritime, one of our biggest rivals. Because the entire Plebe class was required to attend, there was a large crowd cheering us on as we proceeded to hammer them 11-6. That weekend we played against the University of Scranton and lost two out of three. Because of my shoulder surgery, I’m not on the traveling roster for the team, so I’m stuck at school for away games.
That weekend was PKT 10, as we had passed 9 the previous Monday. It was a really weird experience for PKT 10 as we were allowed to sit down for the duration of the test as well as the honor test which followed immediately after. In addition to sitting, PKT 10 and the honor test were both multiple choice PowerPoints, unlike any of the previous 9 PKTs. It was a welcome change as nearly all of the questions were very easy with one clear answer for the majority of those. It nearly went without saying that we passed PKT 10 as soon as we finished it. The feelings were the same after the honor test, however, those feelings were smashed when we received an email saying that we had failed and would be required to have a retake the next Saturday morning. We automatically thought something was fishy since that test was even easier than PKT 10. I did hear later that just enough people had screwed around during the test so throw of each company’s scores.
Baseball that week was against the City College of New York, who we pounded 14-3 in a good outing by junior pitcher Will Richey. The weekend’s games were not quite as good… We played host to Drew University in a 3 game series. They entered the weekend 0-12, so we were fairly confident that we would be able to pull a nice little sweep. After a good extra innings in game 1 on Saturday, we were shut down for the subsequent two, even getting shut out 4-0 in the rubber game. Fortunately for us plebes, we still had a reason to celebrate…
Friday afternoon, we received an email just before 1300 to show up at Ackerman Auditorium in boiler suits and tennis shoes. Because that is the uniform for Recognition, many got their hopes up, while many still felt that the upperclassmen were trying to “bag us up”, essentially pull a fast one on us. When we got there, most of our original drill instructors from Indoc were there yelling at us about things they yelled at us for during Indoc. After everybody was there and the accountability sheets were turned in, the RTO came out and threw a black garbage bag onto the stage and told us to bag it up. Because of that, we were a little dejected, but kind of saw it coming.
Saturday morning, we showed up at Ackerman Auditorium at 0800 for the honor test retake with our clipboards and black pens. The tests were passed out and we took them with the CTOs wandering around, ripping up their tests after sniping people for not shaving or having bad-looking uniforms. Surprisingly, the most locked-on plebe in First Company was called out for not shaving that morning. I figured I would die before seeing this kid fail at any plebe task. Anyway, when we handed them in, the RTOA popped out from behind the curtains and asked us how badly we wanted Recognition. We all screamed that we wanted it really bad, so he told us to go back our rooms and return in 5 minutes in boiler suits and tennis shoes. It was at that point that we knew it was the real deal.
Recognition consisted of six different stations: PT on Tomb Field, just like during Indoc, pushups by the War Memorial, a truck pull up the hill on Steamboat Road, log PT, more PT with some seniors, and the infamous “Mud pit”. Because of my shoulder surgery, I was not allowed to participate, so I was able to take pictures and video of all that went on with the First Company plebes. After everybody had completed the six stations, the plebe class assembled in the Oval between Wiley Hall and where the flagpole once stood. It was then that the Regimental Commander spoke to us for a few minutes, and proclaimed us as Fourth Class Midshipmen at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. This was the first major milestone we had been working towards since we stepped foot through Vickery Gate nearly nine months ago. With Recognition comes the privilege of our door being closed all the time, walking outside, wearing our backpacks, and casually talking with upperclassmen. Students at normal colleges take these things for granted because they seem so natural. We’ve grown to realize the awesomeness of being able to do these things.
Baseball this past week wasn’t so good. We were scheduled to have a game Tuesday afternoon; however, rain caused the game to be postponed to an undetermined date. The weekend games against Moravian College were downright terrible. We lost the first game 23-2, and proceeded to lose Saturday’s doubleheader 6-4 and 5-1. It’s really disappointed to see this, as we were really supposed to have a really good season. I guess there’s something to be said for team chemistry.
Saturday night, after the doubleheader, I hopped on a bus right outside of campus and took it to the Great Neck train station, beginning my ride to my friend’s house in Hicksville, farther out the island. Two train rides later, I hopped in my friend’s van and rode to his house. It was so nice to get away for the weekend even though it was just for the night. This morning we headed to his church and then traveled to one of his aunt and uncle’s house for a light lunch, followed by a trip to another aunt and uncle’s house for an Easter dinner. The food at both places was very good. A welcome break from the slop they serve at Delano… As I write this, I’m on my way back to school in a van belonging to my friend’s family. Though I don’t really want to go back, it’s a lot better now that we’re Recognized. This week is looking a little long because of a few tests and quizzes. If I do some studying, I should be just fine. Stand by for further posts.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Moving Day
Finals Week and a Trip Home
Life hasn’t been bad since the last time I posted. I’ve been through finals week and a little over a week at home. However, let’s pick things up where I left off.
Finals week is usually supposed to be a stressful time, filled with endless studying for tests that have a huge impact on one’s final grade in a class. I, on the other hand, have enjoyed both so far because it’s a time to slow down and focus on my academics without much interference from the Regiment and upperclassmen. Because we’re supposed to use our weekend before for studying, we had our PKT moved from Sunday night to Saturday morning. Though let me back up for a minute. The Friday before finals week, February 26, we had yet another snow day because of more snow, this time around eight or nine inches. Unfortunately, many teachers had scheduled review sessions that day for finals. In addition to that, my section had Machine Shop scheduled for Friday mornings. Because of the snowstorm, that got cancelled and many of us had not yet finished our shop projects. Thankfully, the teacher decided to come in the next morning to allow us to finish our projects. Even better, we were in the shop when the PKT took place, so we got out of it, at least we thought we did. Since so many people were in class or review sessions during the PKT, it was decided that those who did not take it would have to take it sometime later during the day. I presume the training staff did this because they wanted us to pass PKT #9 this time. I lucked out again as I did not have to take the retake because I was scheduled to run the music for the Landmark Conference Basketball Championship game. Even as I write this, I still do not know if we passed the PKT or not, but I’m kind of leaning towards not. Both Saturday and Sunday we were given lunch liberty in case we felt we had some free time to go into Great Neck to get some food. I really doubt many people went out just because of their upcoming finals.
For everybody in the Plebe class, finals week started out with a bang because of the Calculus 2 final Monday morning for deck majors and Monday afternoon for the engineering students. Even though I’ve had quite a bit of calc, there were some pretty obscure questions on there, so I didn’t feel I did great, but I did well enough to get a decent grade in the class. Tuesday was the final that I was dreading the most out of the five I was scheduled to take. I had not done particularly well in Computer Engineering all trimester as the teacher went through topics very quickly, I had never really worked much in Microsoft Excel, and I had not scored well on any of the tests or quizzes. Thankfully, my studying paid off and I was rewarded by doing better on the final than I thought I would and finished up with a grade I was pretty happy with in the class. Wednesday was by far the easiest final of the week and probably the easiest I will have at the Academy. I had done well in Naval Science all trimester because I found the material very interesting and figured if I go into the Navy it would all be stuff that I would need to know at some time or another, so I put a lot of effort into learning everything I could. Because of that, I needed only 15 minutes for the final and was able to get a good grade in the end. Thursday’s final was another I was less confident about. I had done fairly well in Electrical Engineering all trimester, but I felt that I really did not know the material very well. Historically, students with my teacher have not fared too well on the final, but he makes it known that he curves the grades at the end which made me rest a little easier. I didn’t do great on the final, but I was satisfied with my grade in the class, so I guess I can’t really complain too much. Friday’s Physics 2 final probably required the most studying out of all my finals, but the four previous tests had worn me out, so I didn’t put as much time in as I could have or should have. I had done pretty well in the class throughout the trimester, but I know for a fact that I could’ve done better. It was, however, after my shoulder surgery that my grades started sliding downhill in the course, so I’m not sure if the surgery contributed to that or exactly what happened. Even though there were some curveballs on the final, I don’t think that I got the best grade that I could have, which in turn resulted in me getting a grade that could’ve been better. Oh well, I guess it helps me figure out how to apply myself in future courses. Overall, my trimester grades were not bad in the least bit, but I was still disappointed that I didn’t push myself harder in a few of my classes. Again, this helps me figure out what I need to do in my upcoming trimesters. Once I finished up my Physics 2 final, some friends and I quickly finished up our packing, changed into our Service Dress Blues and caught a cab to get away from Kings Point as fast as we could.
I ended up splitting a cab with six other people, which brought the fare down to a pretty reasonable $11. A lot better than paying $45 to ride alone! Because we arrived at the airport around 11:30, I figured it’d be worth it to try getting on the 1:30 flight rather than my scheduled 4:00 pm flight. Even though I had to pay to upgrade to standby for the earlier flight, I figured that getting home 3 hours earlier was worth the money needed to upgrade. The trip home was rather uneventful, though I did ride back with three of my classmates.
Upon arrival, I made it a point to stop by Caribou Coffee and enjoy a cup of good coffee for a change and not support Starbucks, which is New York’s main stop for specialty coffee along with Dunkin’ Donuts. After my parents picked me up, we went directly to Hong Kong Noodles Restaurant which is located right by TCF Bank Stadium, the home of the Minnesota Gophers football team. Even though I had eaten in Chinatown a few weeks before, I try not to pass up good Chinese food whenever I get the chance. Because I wanted to see as many of my friends as I could, I went up to PACT’s last regular season home game. A few of my friends were there which made it a worthwhile evening.
Throughout my week back, I made it a point to have as many friends over as I could or go do stuff with them. Even though I did not get to see everybody I would have liked, I was able to spend a lot of time just relaxing, which was much needed. I didn’t really do anything too exciting for the first while that I was home. The Thursday before I went back to school, we met my uncle at Hong Kong Noodles Restaurant for lunch before going to see a movie at the OmniTheater at the Science Museum of Minnesota. After seeing the movie, we swung by Bethel University so that I could spend a little bit of time with some friends there. I went out to lunch with a friend from church on Friday and ate at one of the best barbecue chicken places in the Metro Area. Big Daddy’s, by the corner of University and Dale in St. Paul has some amazing barbecue chicken, perhaps the best I’ve eaten. I would not complain if I had to take another trip back there.
Saturday morning may have been the highlight of my trip back, since I was finally able to go down to Target Field, the new home of the Minnesota Twins, and walk around down there. It was the opening of Target Plaza, so there were games and booths set up, and the main Twins store was open too. It was cool seeing all of the new, albeit overpriced, Twins merchandise for sale there. Once we had finished walking around the outside of the stadium, which was all they allowed us to see, we took a short trip west on I-394 to have Dim Sum at the Yangtze restaurant. I hadn’t had any Dim Sum since September, so I was more than happy to go over there. It was as good as I remembered, which made it all the more worthwhile.
My last night at home was spent playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on my Xbox 360 with one of my best friends as well as watching some TV. It was nothing too exciting, but a good way to round out my visit home.
As I write this, I’m 37,000 feet up over somewhere between Minneapolis and New York City. I’m guessing one of the Great Lakes. I can’t tell for sure because there’s some thick cloud cover below us. Within a few hours, I’ll be back at the Academy packing up my stuff to making changing rooms easier tonight. Stand by for further posts.
On a final, and more important note. I forgot to mention all of the good homemade food that I had. That was one of the things I was most looking forward to about break. Unfortunately, it might be quite a long time until I get to have some again...
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Escape from Jail, or So It Seemed....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7HKgSNhNeM